Finding Happiness
by TheBeldam27
Summary: When an aspiring, second-class witch goes searching for answers in the mysterious seas of Neverland, she befriends the nefarious Captain Hook, and his mother! What adventures and trials await our heroine in this story!(first story, please be gentle.)Reminder- i own nothing save for my oc's.
1. Chapter 1

**Finding Happiness**

Chapter 1: Discovery

Hi, my name is Maria C. Taylor, a school girl. I live in this snug little town called South Kensington; my address is 14 Bolton Gardens, a small townhouse covered in wild flowers and honeysuckle at the end of the road.

Ever since I was little, I've always been captivated by this that were unknown to people. I was always going out and looking for something new and taking it home to show everyone, whether it was a rock shaped like a flower, or a flock of geese with green and red feathers.

I'm in my last year of school right now. About two years ago, my parents died at around the same time as each other, so since then I earn my food and home helping out in a local bakery and tending to the crops before and after school. It's actually a lot more fun than it sounds. After that, I intend to work full time and save enough money to become a school teacher at a famous prep school in London and become the greatest philosopher ever, it's my dream.

I'm not saying my life is bad, it's actually very nice, the peace and quiet. It's just-well…I have a secret I've been keeping for a long, long time; one that not even my parents knew about it. It's sort of a taboo for me, and I fear the day I have it exposed where everyone can see. No, I don't even want to imagine such a thing.

Well, that's enough of that. Let me tell you about the day my life _really_ changed.

It was just another day in the country side; it was summertime. A regular family of two, a doctor and his little girl, Lizzie, were coming on another one of their visits to spend the summer away from the city of London. Lizzie was my favorite visitor; she had the wildest imagination and told the most intricate made-up stories I ever heard. Today was no different; she had come with a box full of "fairy stuff" to make a little house for them to live in. I thought it was the cutest thing.

"Hello again, Lizzie!" I called out from the road. She turned to me and smiled.

"Hello Maria, look at this," she gestured at the little house she made nestled between the roots of a tree. "It's a little house for the fairies. Do you like it?"

"I love it. If I were a fairy, I'd be much honored to live in such a cute house." She giggled and ran off to find more flowers for it. I chuckled quietly at her imagination and continued on my way to work at the crops before the rain hit, not even giving that house another second thought.

A couple days later, it was sunny again, and I went on my way to bid my farewell to the Griffiths before they left.

This is where the life-changing began. I saw them by the tree Lizzie put her house, having tea with little, real life fairies! I couldn't believe it and did a double take.

"Oh hello Miss Taylor!" Mr. Griffiths called out. "We're Having tea with real life fairies, can you believe it!?" I was so deep in awe, I could only nod at the sight. I slowly walked up to them and knelt down in the corner of the picnic blanket.

They were real all right. There were girl fairies, boy fairies, small fairies, big ones. The one that seemed to stick out the most was the little green leaved fairy next to Lizzie; she was pretty.

"Where did they all come from Lizzie?" I asked, still in awestruck.

"Up there." She pointed up at the sky. "You can't see now, but at night, it's second star to the right and then straight on till morning. It's called Pixie Hollow."

"'Pixie' Hollow? But I thought these were fairies."

Lizzie shrugged. "It's a bit complicated." I giggled at her innocent remark. "Buuut- If you want to be more technical, fairies come from baby laughs"

"Baby laughs?" I asked, thoroughly intrigued.

"Just the first one."

"Incredible."

I stayed with them a bit longer till it was time for me to head home. The more I thought about those fairies, the more I was intrigued to go to this Pixie Hollow. What did it look like? Did they have all four seasons at once, like in Lizzie's field journal? Did they really have a tree that made this yellow dust that makes you fly without the need for wings? I mulled over this the whole way home.

'She said second star to the right.' I had made up my mind. I was going to go there and learn more about these small mythical beings. I race inside an packed a bag. How, you may ask, is an ordinary human being going to get to such a place high in the sky without wings or even pixie dust?

This is the secret I've mentioned earlier, the one I kept secret and hidden away where no one else could see but my own. You see, I am no ordinary human. I never was.

I'm a witch.


	2. Chapter 2

**(For Future Reference, I own NOTHING!)**

Chapter 2: The Journey to the First Answer

Okay, I admit it. I'm no all-powerful sorceress that could fit the world in the palm of my hand with the slightest gesture. In fact, the most I can do is ride a broomstick and a transfer spell, to make things I need appear in certain amounts, and I could barely do that! The truth is, I don't know why I was born like this, that's why I wanna head to this Pixie Hollow, to find answers.

This whole thing started pretty much the day I was born. Since that day, my parents knew I was different. I was no older than four months when I already learned to walk and started to put on weight. At first my parents were afraid that something was wrong with me, I was growing by the centimeter! Then it became clear why, the first time I tried to speak, I spoke through their minds in whole sentences.

Any other mother and father would have gotten rid of such a troubling child, but they didn't. My parents were good people and did everything they could to keep my secret under control. I remember my father going away for months at a time and returning with books and scroll from all over on magic, spells, potions, you name it. By the time I was six, my appearance was double my age, I looked like a twelve-year-old going on thirteen.

Thankfully, I stopped growing at age ten, when I resembled a young lady and had already learned what most learn in their late thirties, how to live on my own. Through the spell books my father found, I not only hid my secret well, but I had become what one book said was a second class Witch, which was pretty high on the bar, but I still had difficulties in reaching my full potential, which I guess was a good thing, since I couldn't use my magic in public anyway.

But what really bothered me was how come I was born with these unique abilities, to fly a broomstick, to make something out of nothing, to read minds and communicate through thought? Why me, out of the billions that were more capable and more powerful, why did the universe pick me? That was why I wanted to go to this Pixie Hollow so badly; maybe if I went there, the fairies could tell me an explanation, or even a clue as to the key to my magic. Even if the reason was tiny and unclear, even if I could barely see it, the important thing would be is that at least I had inkling as to why; I'd be closer to unlocking the truth than I ever was before.

And to discovering why I had _that issue_ that not even my parents knew about.

With that in mind, I fastened my bag to myself and got on my broomstick. It was one I made by myself, it was pretty fast and went higher than any dirigible, but this would be the first time I'd use it for any long distance travel. I stood at the edge of my roof, concentrated, and jumped. I always love that feeling I got when I start takeoff; that feeling you get when you fall, believing you'll meet the ground hard before you feel a light sensation in your stomach, and then realize you have yet to meet the ground. I soared over my hometown, feeling the nostalgia surrounding it.

It really was a nice town, filled with nice people, and good memories. Little did any of the towns people knew, that a witch was flying directly overhead of them watching over their sleepy lives, and then disappearing into the night.

I flew for what felt like hours, skimming the skies, locked on that one star in the night sky. I saw many places as I flew above the safety of the clouds; I flew past the city of London, only stopping to gaze at the sight of Big Ben. It was a temptation to pull the arms of the clock to hear the famous bells, but I pushed back the urge, remembering I had a journey to go on.

Hours went by, one after the other, till it was almost morning. I was just about to consider turning around and giving up till I was met with a kaleidoscope of lights and colors surrounding me, almost enveloping me in its presence. I sensed a warmness, like a summer breeze, hit my face and I was almost about to close my eyes to feel the wind on my eyelids when I looked up and gasped. I was in the middle of the ocean near an island!

It _was_ real. It really was real. I was so ecstatic about finding this place; I didn't even notice everything else around me, and in retrospect, that would've been helpful in the long shot. Behind me, a raving storm was coming up, high winds, pouring rain, not the best flying weather. I was completely off guard by it and got caught in the middle of it. My clothes got drenched in a matter of seconds and holding onto my broom for dear life, no longer sitting on it. I frantically looked around to find ground close enough to land. I spotted a large rock twice the size of Big Ben, maybe bigger, and made a beeline for it. Anything to get out of this crazy weather, I'd take refuge with pirates if it meant land.

Yeah, jinxes are a pain.


	3. Chapter 3

**(I own nothing) PS- if anyone is confused about the big secret Maria is holding, it's not that she's just a witch, I meant for it to be something much bigger, but that little tidbit is for later in this chapter; trust me, it's gonna be a doozy. **

Chapter Three: The Lady from the Sky

Another dreary day in Neverland for James and his pathetic crew; the rain added to the mood the selfish pirate was in. All day, the crew whined about having no food, no fresh water, no- agh! If he had to go one more day hearing another complaint, he'd send them all to-

"Captain!" his cabin boy, Oppenheimer wailed at the top of his lungs. He sounded like he'd seen a ghost.

"What is it now,Oppenheimer? You know I hate it when-,"

"S-sorry, Captain. Listen, y-you gotta come see this. Its a-i-it's-it's a"

"For goodness sakes man, spit it out already!" He barked, holding Oppenheimer by the collar of his shirt.

"Captain!" Once again, he heard himself being called out to see this bug something, and had yet to know what it was. He set Oppenheimer down and climbed out of the comfort of his dwelling to take a look around.

"Well? What is it?" He demanded. The crew pointed in the direction of the entrance of the cave. He turned around and saw a little figure riding on something, coming towards land. Upon closer inspection, he saw it was a girl riding a broomstick in mid-air.

Now _that_ was something.

He turned around and gave a warning glance at the crew"Nobody makes a single sound till I return," was the only thing he said before he walked towards the tree. The girl looked soaked to the bone and her clothes clung to her skin, revealing she was a young lady, not a little girl.

'The men would probably do something stupid if I don't something first' he thought to himself, further observing the girl.

* * *

If I had to set a scale for the coldest, darkest, scariest cave in existence, this place would be all top four. I mean it; I could barely see an inch in front of my nose. This would only be for tonight, and then I would explore the island and maybe find some food. I sneezed violently as I realized how drenched I got in the storm. I wanted to reach in my bag and change into a warmer change of clothes, but I was so tired from flying all night and working all day, I just collapsed right then and there. The roots forming at the bottom of the tree were very comfortable and I was so exhausted, I was not even concerned about how cold and wet I was, or that I was being watched.

* * *

The captain watched as the young lady just fell asleep on the side of the tree. She looked so defenseless. He chuckled at her denseness, not even taking the time to look around and check if the place to see if it was even safe. There could've been spiders, scorpions, _pirates_. His thoughts were interrupted when the young lady started shivering in her sleep. '_She's supposed to be magic, and yet she still feels cold?_' he pondered whether it would be beneficial or not to let a magic being onto the ship with the possibility of a reward for hospitality.

Yeah. Like the answer wasn't obvious enough. He cracked his neck and went to carry the young lady to his finest quarters to rest and hopefully dry off properly.

"Captain!"Oppenheimer once again shouted. The captain immediately shushed him and gestured at the sleeping maiden in his arms. "_So, is she really magic?_" He whispered under his breath. The captain nodded and tilted his head towards the crew, quietly telling Oppenheimer to tell the others "no visitors".

Inside the cabin, he gently set the young lady down. He was just guessing on his part, just how powerful she really was. By her bag and clothes alone, all he could tell was she must've live in the country once. What a simple life for a magical being. Her books were no help either; the pictures were all fuzzy-looking and everything was written in a language he deemed illegible, it wasn't even words! Last thing he found was a locked journal and a picture frame of a little girl that resembled the one in his bed, an old dog, and one set of ordinary-looking parents.

That's it, simple country folk. Maybe bringing her here wasn't such a-

Suddenly, the young lady in his bed began glowing a soft blue, almost like the sky. Her clothes dried immediately and her cold pale skin turned rosy and warm. The last thing that happened was the air around her seemed to turn bluer and concentrate itself till it was a rich indigo, almost like she was pulling invisible energy out of nowhere and absorbing it into her skin. Then, as quick as it happened, the dark blue light disappeared into the young lady's skin, leaving a peaceful, smiling sleeping girl in its place.

The captain couldn't believe what he had just witnessed, heck, if he were to try to explain it, he'd believe he'd gone daft! No question about it, this _was _one remarkable young lady; one that he intended to manipulate fully to his advantages till he found a way to get some of her magic.

Oh yes, she was gonna be a guest of The Jolly Roger, or his name wasn't Captain James Hook.

**Thank you for all who reviewed. Be warned- this story does have short chapters, but I will fill them full of suspense, adventure, and mystery. If anyone would like to contribute, place a review(though I make no promises though, sorry) Off to the keyboard!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: More Questions

I woke up to the best sleep I ever had, which was weird because I specifically remember falling asleep cold and drench, propped up against a small tree in a cave. After I finally shook the sleep off me I found out why. Somehow, I ended up in a cabin bed, similar to the ones you find in a boat like in one of my books.

That's odd. How did I end up here? Was I found or something?

My thoughts were interrupted by voices coming from outside the room. They sounded male; **big** male voices. Checking first to see if I was decent, I silently crept up and pushed my ear to the door.

'_I heard from the captain she can make gold appear out of thin air.'_

'_Naw she can't, you big lump. You saw how she flew in here; she must be capable of controlling the winds and sky.'_

What were they talking about? Were they talking about me? But I can't control the wind!

'_Quiet, you bunch of ingrates! She'll hear you.'_

'_She might've already heard us captain, through our minds.'_

'_We don't know that yet. For now, just keep on your toes and treat her like a proper guest. We may need her magic in the future, so we must get her to trust us. Am I clear?'_

'_Sir, yes sir!'_The pirates whispered, but I heard it. Oddly enough, I could hear them as if they were shouting. 'Curious. I could never do that before.' Quickly, I ran back to the bed and pulled a book out from my bag, pretending to read. The door opened slightly to reveal a man, probably in his late twenties, peeking out the door.

"You know it's rude not to knock. If I were dressing, you'd see everything" I noted bluntly as if I didn't care and closed the book, looking at a now flustered pirate captain.

"A thousand apologies, my lady; I thought you were still asleep." He awkwardly walked in and set a plate of food for me. It wasn't much, just a bowl of what looked like oatmeal and an apple.

"I know its not much, but it is all we have to offer."

"It's alright, it looks, nice." Oh, what I wouldn't give for a steamy hot plate of scrambled eggs and toast right about now. Just as I pictured a nice hot breakfast to eat, I heard the man gasp as a plate of eggs and toast appeared in place of the oatmeal. I was flabbergasted.

"Did you do that? Are you magic?"

"Yes, but I could never do that before! I could just make small things appear, like apples and sunflower seeds, not a whole plate of hot food!" I took a piece of the toast to see if it was real and bit into it. It was warm and crisp like it was just made a minute ago. I saw in the corner of my eye, the young pirate drooling over my food.

"You can have some if you want, there's enough here to feed an army." He looked at me as if I had offered him gold. He greedily scarfed down half the eggs and toast, humming happily as if he hadn't eaten in days. 'Must not be every day he gets a decent meal.'

"You seem quite hungry. Let me make you more."

"Oh no, it's quite alright. However, the crew is probably going mad by the smell." He man noted, practically hearing his men drooling outside.

"Before I forget, what's your name?"

"Call me James."

"I'm Maria."

* * *

I don't know how I got to this point, but somehow in one morning, I became a guest to a ship full of pirates who didn't know I knew they were pirates yet, made a plate full of food appear out of nowhere, and now was serving for my life to feed a bunch of starving pirates and their captain. Luckily, they stopped asking for food after _nine_ helpings and passed out right there on the ground, snoring loudly if I may add.

"They seem, nice" I said carefully.

"Oh, don't let their appetites fool you. They are actually quite nice. Oppenheimer for instance; sweetest man you'll ever come across. He's also not too shabby on the accordion for an old man, though i wish he's silence that clock of his mother's, it's enough to drive one mad." He pointed to the snoring old man with the eye patch curled next to a big, buff pirate sucking his thumb like a child.

"And the larger person sleeping next to him is Bonito; he's an ex tailor from Spain. Don't let his size fool ya; he makes all of our clothes from scratch and has a keen eye for detail. There are six of us in total."

"Oh. Well, this was fun and all, but I better head off; don't want to intrude on your hospitality any more than I have to." I said quickly, gathering my things.

"You're going already?" James asked; a little disappointed. "Well, if you have to. I'm sure you have a family to head home to, and I wouldn't want you to keep them waiting."

I paused at that and looked down. He was wrong.

"What is it?"

"I don't, have a family." I said in a small voice. Personally, I never really grieved for long about the deaths of someone I knew, since I believed in god, but it still didn't stop the fact that I missed my mother and father terribly. I loved them.

'_I got her'_ hook thought selfishly, seeing the change in expressions Maria held.

"Oh my- I am so sorry. I didn't know."

"It's alright. They were good people, so I'm not worried. I just, miss them."

"Oh. Well if you ever need a place to stay, you're always welcome to stay here with us."

"That's appreciated, but I really must be going." I didn't want to say another word on the matter, so I leapt on my broomstick and began takeoff from the ground(which is much more difficult since you get much more momentum from jumping off something than jumping from the ground). When I finally did get off the ground, I turned to wave farewell to the pirate captain.

"Hope to see you again soon Miss!"

"Goodbye!"_ I sincerely doubt it._ And with that, I flew the heck out of that cave and set off on my quest to find Pixie Hollow.

* * *

Meanwhile…

A ship of blue and gold skimmed the horizon of the never seas, its target for land identified.

"Captain, we found it!" one of the crew members called from the crow's nest.

"Excellent, he must be here." The captain looked on ahead at the front of the ship; the mysterious land where _he_ disappeared to. '_I'll find you yet, my son.'_ The captain looked to the far right to see a flying object speed in direction of the ship. '_What have we here?'_


	5. Chapter 5

**How many of you are dying here to find out what's to become of our dear Maria? You'll have to wait and see, or read, whatever. PS-Loving the reviews, they give me strength. Okay. On with the…you get the idea.**

* * *

Chapter Five: Big Misunderstandings

'Holy cow, why am I flying so fast?!' I was zipping at high speed through the cove of the beach. It was near impossible to land at this rate. Maybe I should survey the area from a bird's eye view so I have a rough sketch of where this Pixie Hollow was.

How much help was that? None what so ever! Everything seemed either covered in trees or covered in mist, and the way it mixed together made it very hard to keep track of any land mark, be it a river or a mountain. The rain from yesterday must've been the key problem.

Guess there was no helping it. Looks like I was walking from here. I returned to the cove of the island and notice a ship close to the island. '_Is that James? He must be leaving to go pillage or something. Oh well, it's not any of my business. I can't believe he's so dense.'_ I thought coldly, landing on the warm sand and sat down to catch my breath.

Now _that_ was flying. Come to think of it, ever since I woke up, it's as if my magic had its block all cleared up. The flying. The increased hearing; was it because of this place? That reminded me of what I had to go through back home with this very same issue.

Every time I made a friend, or someone I thought was pretty decent, I threw caution and showed them a tiny bit of my magic.

That's when I saw their true faces. Selfish. Greedy. Full of unsatisfied want. From that point on, all they'd be interested in is my magic. "Can you fly?" "Will you use magic on someone I hate?" "Can you teach me magic?" "Can witches really live through being burned alive?"Magic this, magic that. It got so bad; I had to erase all memories with fake ones of me doing bad magic tricks so they would leave me alone; they treated me either two-sided(wanting me to do something), or threatening(spilling my secret and burning me at the stake). I never spoke to any of them again; knowing that deep down; they were only selfish and conceited people.

I know, harsh judgment on my part, really, but there it is.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard loud sobbing. It was coming from the far left of the cove behind a huge rock. I looked over to see a group of women in their mid-age trying to comfort the sobbing lady.

"Oh it's hopeless, absolutely HOPELESS!"

"Captain, please. Try to pull yourself together."

"Yeah, we've been at it for two hours."

"I just want to know where my darling baby boy is, IS THAT TO MUCH TO ASK. WAAH!" the woman sobbed harder and I couldn't help but feel a little bad for her.

"Oi, there's a spy peeping behind that rock over yonder!" A tall, thin woman exclaimed, my stomach dropping in the process. A big, round woman grabbed me by my arm and snatched my broomstick far out of reach. 'This wasn't good.'

"What'd you get, Lyra?"

"It's just a youngn', Matilda. What's your name, pup?" the round woman asked in a deep, puffy voice.

"M-Maria Taylor. I heard crying and wished to…help?"

"What's with the broom? You some kind of housemaid?" the tall woman asked, her voice squawking like a parrot.

"N-No. I, um…" there's no way I could tell them I was magic; what if they tried to burn me alive, or maybe they'd chain me up and send me to the bottom of the ocean; or worse, ask me to teach them!? Ugh! What do I say!?

"Have you seen my son?" the once sobbing lady stopped crying; now she was now more somber and serious with a little bit of dignity. "He's tall, dark hair and brown eyes. His name is James."

Really? We had to go back to this again? I'm glad it got me out of telling them about my origins, but now I had a bigger mess to clean.

How was I gonna keep it a secret from these women if the person they're looking for already knows and has the possibility of telling them? If I told them I knew where James was, he'd _definitely _tell them; like he's going to keep anything from his own mother; showing him my magic from before was a sheer accident, but it coming out was different! I would erase their memories, but I don't have the proper tools to do it in a pinch like this! Maybe I should leave, go back to searching the island and forget this little blunder ever happened.

I turned to tell the women I hadn't the foggiest idea who was this so called James, nor where he was. Then I saw how sad the lady looked. It reminded me of how she looked before, in hysterics for her lost child. She looked on the verge of that right now. '_No! Don't fell! You have to keep this a secret! But she looks so sad, and I'm sure she's been looking for him for quite a while. No! Your secret? Burned at the stake, horrible divine punishment? Ring a bell? But, she's a mother, looking for her son…_

* * *

Meanwhile, Hook was brooding in his captain's quarters. Another perfect scheme down the drain. He had it all figured out too; first, he'd show Maria his famous charismatic smile and lure into the crew to be the cook. Then he'd charm her into teaching him the knowledge written in those books she kept. Then, once he found her weakness, he'd show her his true face and keep her prisoner in the brig, forever lining his pockets with gold and silver.

Boy was he stupid to let her go. He could've at least tricked her into fixing their living conditions so he wouldn't have to hear his crew whining about sleeping on the hard floor.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of, ladies singing. Ladies? On Skull Rock? He hopped off his bed and ran outside to see a ship full of singing women.

"There he is! There's my son! Jimmy!"

"Mother!?" Hook couldn't believe it; he hadn't seen his mother in god knows how long. The ship budded with his, and the ecstatic woman ran to her confused son.

"Jimmy! I missed you so much, thank god I found you!" she smothered him in her iron grip, almost suffocating him. On board the ship stood Maria, stressed out.

"Hello James!"

"Maria, back so soon?"

"Yes, your mother, Gertrude, wanted to know your whereabouts." Maria stood behind Hook's mother as she continued to hug the life out of him.

"How did you find me?"

"It wasn't that hard, dear. I just followed my heart and it led me straight to you; and this young miss helped with the rest." Hook's mother noticed the little greeting from the two and narrowed her eyes in scandal. "So…Do you two, know each other?"

Hook knew all too well that scandalous look in her eyes and knew immediately what she was thinking.

"Yes. Just the other night, he took me in after a bad storm came in."

"So Maria, do you have, say, anyone special in your life?"

"I-no. Why do you-" Maria suddenly put two and two together, and immediately, her face flushed a deep shade of red.

"I assure you mother, she and I barely know each other. We're just acquaintances at this point, not even that."

"Oh James, I'm just teasing you; although, she _is_ pretty, if I do say so myself."

"Mother! Not in front of my crew."

"Oh James, someday you'll want to settle down with someone and you're not gonna get there the way you are now."

"What about you and father?! You never stopped being a scourge of the seas because of him, and I bet you were never pushed into meeting men."

"Your father was different; bless him. We met on the same terms; besides, my parents were already gone."

"But mother-"

"Don't you 'but mother' me."

"Um, can I say something?" Maria cooled down from her addition and found her tongue once again. "I think there's been a little misunderstanding."

"Not really. I know, I can be a bit pushy, but I just don't want to see you die old and alone." Hook's mother smiled warmly. "Besides, that body won't stay handsome forever."

"Mother!

* * *

I know, I know, I'm an idiot. I'm a complete dunce. A total stink brain. Well, how could I say no? She killed me! I mean did you hear the little wither in her voice, not even the grim reaper could handle that! Oh well, we live and learn. Maybe if I'm lucky, I can beg them to keep it a secret in exchange for the service.

I have to say, James' mother was the complete opposite of him. His words and actions made him come off a lot more mischievous then what he led people to believe; while his mother sort of wore her personality on her sleeve, like a proud, blunt woman. Oddly, they mixed well together.

"Maria."

"Yes Mrs., uh, James' mother."

"Oh! Call me Gertrude. Listen, you probably already know that my little Jimmy likes to use manipulation to get what he wants; he gets that from his father's side. Anyway, deep down, I know he's a good captain, just a little hard to get along with others at times. Until then, I'd suggest keeping that magic of yours to you."

"Oh, he told you, didn't he?"

"Actually, I saw you fly up from around the island."

'_WHAT!? She already knew? And I'm still standing!? Then that means I've fretting over absolutely nothing!'_

"Hello? Maria?" Gertrude snapped me out of my shocked daze.

"Uh, I've officially reached my limit." I said, rubbing the crease of my nose.

Gertrude chuckled. "I know why it is you've come here; you have things about you you don't know about yourself. Questions you want answered."I nodded, a little intrigued.

"Rest assured; you will find what you're looking for, someday. Just don't rush it; the answers will come to you eventually."

"You sound like you know more about this then you're letting on, like you know what it is I'm looking for." I inquired.

"I do, but it's not my place to tell. Just never stop being you, believe in your own strength, not in the status or name given you."

'_Ugh! I hate it when older people know something I don't. It's so frustrating! Oh well, at least I have a vote of confidence that I will find what I'm looking for.'_

I waved my goodbye alongside James as his mother left to go "pillage another snobby rich man of his spoils".

"Oh, one more thing- Fix that blasted port of yours, it looks like poverty struck you hard; I'll be back soon, so don't forget to clean that ship up!" And with that, her female crew shipped away to the "Never Seas".

"So _that's_ your mother." I said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, she's way headstrong; always has to have thing done her way." He looked at me as if to ask something. "So, ahem, about the port…"

I sighed deeply. It really couldn't be helped, could it? "I'll only do the port and leave a large amount of food for you to eat, but that's it. I'm not staying."

"Of course! It's just this little bit, I mean, there are only six of us."

"Don't forget a place to stock your food when not in use; a kitchen to prepare it, somewhere to clean your clothes, somewhere to clean yourselves… am I forgetting anything?"

* * *

By the time I finished constructing the place, it was as if there was a whole village rested inside the cave. _'Well, at least it didn't look scary anymore.'_ I added lanterns and lamp post which lit up the port in a warm glow so you could see every inch of the place, but it wasn't too bright it hurt your eyes. I also rounded out the stones around the waterfall so they filled into tubs, much like a Japanese hot spring I had seen in books before, minus the hot.

"Well, I have to say Maria, when you make a port, _you make a port._"

"It was nothing, it was the picturing it altogether that was the hard part." Suddenly, I had a very good idea. "So, we haven't settled on a price for my generous services."

The look on James' face was priceless. Did he believe I was doing this for free?

"Uh, w-what could I possibly give you in exchange for all this!? I mean, I don't even have treasure to compensate you for."

"That's okay; it wouldn't have even made a difference. I can make treasure, the same way I made this port, remember?" I demonstrated this by making a bag of gold coins appear, jingling it for good measure. He looked at me worriedly, loosening the collar on his shirt, gulping a bit. "Well, looks like you owe me _quite_ a little debt there, Captain James Hook. What should we do?" Finally, a loophole in his little conniving scheme; now what should I have him do?


	6. Chapter 6

**Right, so in this part of the story, Maria already knows James is two sided. What will be interesting is how their relationship with each other grows from there; him knowing she's magic, and her knowing he's cunning. Thanks for the reviews! Warning, may contain language, it's rated T for a reason…**

* * *

Chapter 6: The Agreement

The crew was all ecstatic when they saw their new living arrangements. It was almost too good to be true.

"Look at the wells and the lamp posts; its like were in a village!" Bonito said in awe.

"Look in the houses, real beds!" Oppenheimer squealed in delight, especially since the rooms were all completely furnished with expensive-looking furniture. Everyone was either talking about the rooms filled with goose down feathers, or the larder filled with cured beef and pork; especially the meat, all they had for weeks was fish.

"These tubs at the falls remind me of home" the Chinese pirate said in nostalgia, wiping a tear from their beauty. Everyone was so excited about the port; they didn't notice their captain coming till he cleared his throat to call attention to his crew.

"Men, gather round!" the crew immediately knew something was wrong when they heard him speak in that serious tone of his voice.

"What is it captain?"Oppenheimer found the courage to ask.

"It's Maria."

"What is it? Is she taking everything back!? Please say no!" Bonito blubbered, not wanting the larder to go away.

"No, it's- well, it's about the subject of repaying her…"

* * *

Twenty-five minutes earlier….

"What if I paid you in paintings and artwork? Those are valuable." James kept going on and on of the various things he could give Maria that would be of equal value to her service; so far, she was undeterred. He couldn't believe this was happening, how could he let this get this bad? Oh yeah, because of the amazing port filled with luxuries and comfort.

"No; I like my art better. Besides, those wouldn't belong to me. And another thing- I can conjure them up at will, since you keep forgetting. "

"How 'bout one of my men, I'm sure you could find use in one of them. They're lives are pretty valuable."

"While we're on that subject; you could give yourself to me as easily as giving your men; I have no intention of taking their liberty, which would be low of me." Maria said undeterred. James finally threw his hands in the air as a sign of defeat.

"Fine, I have listed everything I could possibly think of to give you, and you've refused every one of them. Is there anything unbearably specific on your mind that you wish of us that we obviously can't get you through physical means!?" He yelled to the ceiling, out of breath. Maria rolled her eyes at his childish behavior and conjured up a slip of paper.

While he was listing things to give her, Maria had mentally formed a contract for James and his crew to sign; adding in extremely specific details so _certain people_ (ahem, James) could find a way out.

"Here, sign this." Maria handed him the paper rolled up into a scroll and a big feathered pen. For a few seconds, all he did was stare at it.

"A paper? You just wanted me to sign a stupid piece of paper?" now it was James' turn to reach his limit.

"I wouldn't call it stupid, per say. It's a contract I wish for not just you, but your whole crew to sign." Maria informed, keeping her composure in check. James unrolled the paper and skimmed through it. He had to admit, this was one contract he couldn't seem to find any loose boards; no matter where or how he looked at it, he couldn't find a single thing to work with.

"What if I don't want to sign it?"

"Are you sure that would be wise, captain? I mean, you did hear your mother from before didn't you; and imagine how she'll react when she sees what a good job your doing?"

_Damn! She's right; this lass is almost as cunning as me._

* * *

Present time….

"So, we all have to sign this, otherwise we lose the port." Oppenheimer concluded. James nodded.

"What is it, a contract for our souls!?" Bonito said frighteningly.

"What uses have I for your souls?" Maria called out from behind their captain, a little annoyed at their idiocy. "If you must call it something, consider it a restricting contract, prohibiting and forbidding you from doing certain things and allowing me specific access to certain things." Maria noticed the concern in the crew's faces and decided to up the ante. "You don't have to sign it if you don't want to, but that will mean I'll have to take back the port, the larder, the meat…" She didn't even finish the sentence; the whole crew had already signed using both their real names alongside their titles, including Jas. Hook, Captain.

_Well that went smoother than expected._

"Ok, we signed your contract. Now what?" James said in that same tone, trying to sound as intimidating as possible to Maria. She merely smiled and split the contract in two, making a framed copy for him.

"Here, Hang it somewhere where everyone can see it if they forget. Enjoy you new port!" And with that, Maria jumped off the deck and flew out of the cave for the second time today.

* * *

It wasn't a contract for their souls, really, it wasn't. Since I was currently not in possession of the proper tools to do and memory erasing, I had to improvise. Anyway, it would've made no difference; there's a time period you have to do the spell and if I did it anyway, they would've lost every single precious memories cultivated in life. Even if they were pirates, I couldn't do that to them. The terms of the contract were simple-

The Captain and crew must never lie to me.

The Captain and crew must never keep secrets from me.

The Captain and crew must allow me access to the ship and their belongings but must never touch mine unless asked or offered.

The Captain and crew must allow me to use magic on them whenever I want.

Any new member of the Jolly Roger must sign the contract- No Exceptions!

I am allowed to update the contract whenever I want to put more stuff in.

The Captain and crew are strictly forbidden of even attempting to try to kill me.

Those were basically the basics. I threw in the "No Killing' clause for protection purposes. Now for more important matters- Pixie Hollow!

My flying was much better now that I knew how fast I went without trying. I could finally take in the view. It was beautiful. This place was like a jungle mixed with forest green. I could see everything a lot more clearly now. I notice between the high mountains, there stood a tree all by itself in the middle of this valley where there were different trees and flowers.

I then realized, fairies are small, like no bigger than a hairpin. How was I going to land without destroying their homes or squishing them? I sighed deeply_._

_If only I were that small._

Suddenly, I felt a tight feeling in my chest, which spread through my spine and then up to my head. It wasn't a hurting tight, more like I was being hugged _really_ tightly. The next thing I knew, I was on the ground level; I was three inches tall!

* * *

Hook paced angrily through the room Maria appointed to him. He should've been overjoyed to see a captain's quarters so full of lavish comforts; she even put in a harpsichord made of solid gold! But all that did was serving as a painful reminder of the debt he placed himself in and the contract he and his crew were forced to sign.

_I can't believe I had to sign my privacy privileges to a little girl. She's not so little,_ he reminded himself, but it didn't matter! She wasn't interested and knew what was really like. All the same, he had to admit to how cunning she could be under that sweet persona when she wanted to.

_Wait, what?_

"Captain, dinner's ready!" Oppenheimer called out from the mess hall.

"Coming!" Hook said half-conscious of what the old pirate said.

He had to admit, Maria was a formidable opponent, and wasn't bad-looking. _I wonder how she'd be at sword-fighting._

* * *

Maria zipped through the trees of the jungle; everything seemed much bigger now that she was fairy-sized, but it didn't stop her speed. She was glad that everything shrunk along with her. She finally reached the clearing and was surprised to see a little community of fairies with contraptions and little houses everywhere. Before, the first time she saw fairies; there were a lot with different colored outfits. Here, everyone wore green leaves and vines, and they were all working making contraption with the most detailed work Maria had ever seen.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of jingling bells. Behind her was a lean, orange-haired fairy with large goggles on his eyes. He looked like he was talking frantically but all Maria could hear were jingly-bells.

_Ok. Guess communication doesn't come with size._

Maria pulled out a blank piece of paper from her bag and a mechanical pen and handed it to the frantic fairy.

_I wonder if he can understand me…_

"Excuse me, my name's Maria Taylor. What's your name?" Maria asked, gesturing to the paper for him to write. He seemed to understand her pretty well, and began jotting down a bunch of things. Maria had to look over his shoulder to see it all.

'_Hello Miss Taylor, I'm Phynias T. Kettlefynn at your service. As you can see, I'm a fairy, are you a fairy?'_

"No, I'm actually a witch, but I don't know why. Do you know someone who does?"

'_No. Maybe if you ask Queen Clarion, she may know something. She lives in the Pixie Dust tree at the center of all of Pixie Hollow.'_

"Could you take me to her?"

'_I would, but I have to finish my work, sorry.'_

"That's alright, thank you anyway."

'_Your wel- _his writing was cut short from an explosion on the other side of the community. He bowed his head to excuse himself and flew off to see what happened. Whatever it was, they seemed to be able to take care of it perfectly, so Maria left further into Pixie Hollow to look for Queen Clarian.

The place was even more incredible than she could ever imagine. One side of it had trees in full bloom of spring blossoms. One side had trees full of fruit and lush green rolling hills of sweet-smelling grass. Another showed the gold and red of autumn, the rich smell of cinnamon spice, the fruits and vegetables ripe for harvesting, and leaves in all colors, even purple.

For a moment, all Maria wanted to do was explore all of Pixie hollow and look at all it's magic, but she couldn't. In one turn, Maria made a beeline for the Pixie Dust tree, home of the legendary pixie dust that makes fairies fly and have magic.

* * *

Meanwhile at the far end of Neverland, sideways, was a figure who up till now was quietly observing Maria's actions and decisions in her hall mirror.

"Smart girl, just like her over-doting mother. Maybe it _would _be a good time to see her; I haven't in over twenty years since the girl was born, oh well- no time like the present." The smirking woman walked casually to the other side of the room and pulled out her coat. "I may get stormy again, can never be to prepared" And with that, the woman opened a portal through her front door and left flying to see her one and only granddaughter.

* * *

**Another twist! Stay tuned, it's gonna get messy!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, sorry for the late updates-even losers like me have lives on a Sunday. Anyway, let's see grandma!**

* * *

Chapter Seven: What Power You Have!

I sped through the lush fields of grass of my now tiny broomstick till I came across the alleged Pixie Dust tree. To anyone else, it would've looked like nothing more than a simple tree, but to ma, it was like looking at the Holy Grail itself, it was so beautiful. Along the way, I saw a bunch of other fairies of all variety; they mostly just stared in utter amazement that I was flying on a broomstick.

Inside the tree was a little library where I could see hundreds of fairies just reading away at valuable fairy knowledge. I let them be and headed to the front of the library where I saw another lanky boy fairy with an overbite and spectacles, just like mine.

"Ahem, excuse-"

"Shh!"

"-_me,"_ I finished saying quietly.

"_What?"_

"_Um, do you know where the queen is? It's very important that I meet her."_ As I talked, he noticed my attire and broom.

"_Are you here to clean something of hers?"_

"_No. I have a question to ask her, about my origins. I'm a witch."_

He snickered at the statement._ "No you're not; witches are old, ugly, and are as big as humans. You are not, so you can't be a witch."_

'I dunno if that was supposed to be a compliment or an insult'

"_Look, can you just tell me where Queen Clarion is, please?" _I asked my patience thinning.

"_Fine, she's in winter with Lord Mallory."_

"_Ok, thanks" _I walked out of the library and headed for winter, wherever that was. Looking behind me, I noticed the fairy looking at me. He saw I had no wings and was stuttering madly. I winked at him and jumped out the balcony window. He rushed over and saw that I had recovered and was now flying at high speed to winter on my broomstick.

"_Huh, imagine that. A real witch."_

"And you called her ugly!" an observing fairy pointed out.

"Shh!"

* * *

Back at skull rock, Hook barely touched his food; his thoughts were all on Maria.

"Oi, Captain, your meal's gonna get cold if you let it just sit there!" Oppenheimer jibbed.

"I know, sorry." He muttered under his breath, not caring that he just got scolded by one of his crew. Oppenheimer noticed the change in his captain; or rather the whole crew noticed it. If anyone ever scolded Hook, it would send them to an early grave and they knew it. This evening, he seemed so, distracted with something, and they knew what that something was, Maria.

"Captain, is something-" All of a sudden, there was an explosion; something just crashed into the waters near the port, startling everyone, even Hook. They all rushed to see what on earth it was that made such a powerful blow when said thing rose out of the waters and suspended in mid air.

"Maria!?" Oppenheimer called out in confusion. Hook froze in shock.

_That wasn't Maria._

He had only known her for a couple of days, but even he could see the obvious differences to this imposter. The hair for one thing; Maria's hair was wild and curly and had a rich chocolate brown to it that shown red in the sunset lights. This woman's hair was silver, it almost had a very light purple to it, and was long and smooth, tied up in a pony tail that reached to her feet.

Her skin was another dead giveaway. Maria's shin showed a light olive glow as proof of being in the sun all day farming and gardening. This woman's skin was so white, it was pink!

Another thing he noticed was her body; while he would never admit it to his crew or even Oppenheimer, Maria's body had a curvy yet pinched, fit figure, she also had a very…pronounced bust line, unlike her. This woman's body was more lean and slim and bony, and her chest was…less pronounced, a lot less pronounced.

"Oh Maria," The imposture Maria called in a singsong voice. "Would you come out and play?"

* * *

Maria swooped through the heavy snowfalls of the winter wood till she found the roots of the Pixie Dust tree carrying precious pixie dust to the winter fairies. In front of that was a frozen pond filled with both winter and warm fairies ice skating and having fun together.

_I wish I could've had fun like that._ She thought to herself. _No! This is no time for feeling sorry for yourself; you have a quest to continue._ At that moment, a bird swooped down beside Maria. She almost jumped in fright until she saw a gold fairy, her wings wrapped in light snow.

"Um, excuse me. Are you Queen Clarion?"

"Yes I am. And who, may I ask are you? You're certainly not a fairy."

"Uh, no, I am not. I am a witch, my name's Maria, and I'm confused."

"Why?"

"Because, I don't know why I was born this way, why I can fly, why I have magic. I'm lost, your highness, and I believe that you could help show me the way." She looked at Maria with a mix of intrigue and surprise.

"I am truly sorry, little one, but I do not have the answers you are looking for; such knowledge has been lost to us fairies since the birth of Pixie Hollow itself." She said sadly. Maria looked down at the snow, now more lost than ever.

"All I can tell you is this, Witches and fairies are more connected than you think; I felt the bond instantly when you first introduced yourself to me. I'm sorry; I can't be of anymore help." She bowed her head to Maria in apology, and flew back to the Pixie Dust tree.

Maria flew out of winter in a daze. 'I came all this way here for nothing, now _really_ feel lost.' Her thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a large puff of smoke in the distance. She gasped in terror.

_That's where Skull Rock is! Oh my god, James!_

* * *

The whole port and the ship were in utter shambles; the imposture Maria had used magic to spit red fire and lightning from her hands, leaving the pirates at a great disadvantage. They put up such a fight; using everything from cannons to throwing their swords at her. The all barely put so much as a scratch on her pale skin, and every weapon they threw landed a direct hit!

"So, do you know where Maria is? Well? Do ya, come on, _tell me_." Right now, she had Hook by the neck, choking him with her bare hands. He couldn't keep up with her at this rate; he'd be dead if she continued.

"Aw, drat- you don't know where she is, because she doesn't trust you, huh? Am I right?" she dropped-kicked him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

"You must be a pretty low human-bug to make her not wanna trust you, you must be a sinner."

"Stop it!" Hook snapped. "You don't know a thing about me!"

She grinned eerily "Don't I, I know you like to take advantage of people, putting a false persona when in reality, you're just a sad little nobody who can never be happy no matter how much treasure you have- because in the end, you will die old and alone, and done fo-"

"No! That's not true! Stop it! Stop talking! No More!" Hook couldn't take it.

"Am I wrong? You don't even have an honest drop of blood, but it'll still be nice to see it."

"That's enough you!" both parties turned around to see a peeved Maria, shaking in fury.

"Oh look, it's Maria. You're late; sorry I broke your toys." Maria ignored her and tackled her to the ground. From there, the whole ship bore witness to the biggest catfight they had ever seen.

Maria used all her concentration on destroying this witch in every way she deemed imaginable. In a blaze of pure fury, no,_ passion_, she was in mid air and created blue fire and white lightning from her hands and managed to weaken the imposture her. Then, she conjured up a bow and arrow, much like the ones the Scottish designed, and fired one of her flames directly into the woman's stomach, missing her heart by a sheer second.

"Oh, you got me Maria; how utterly powerful you are."

"You will DIE!" Maria charged with full strength towards the imposture. "DIE I SAAAY!" And with that final word, Maria threw the woman to the ground, causing it to rumble noticeably all the way to Pixie Hollow. In the crater, the imposter slowly grew conscious again, staring at the sight of a way pissed off Maria, holding her at sword point.

She started chuckling softly. "Amazing. You are every bit as strong as I believed you were, but I never thought you could harness such raw passion at such an age."

"Enough! I want you to tell me why you came and destroyed this place and why you came to attack me and these pirates; then I want you to leave, before I _make_ you"

"Why don't you just kill me instead? You have the capability to do so,"

"I do not kill for the sake of being rid of you, I only do it as a last resort, now tell me, before I lose my patience!" slowly, the woman stood up, her wound clearing up before Maria in a soft blue glow.

"Maria, come hug grandma!" the woman said cheerfully, wrapping her arms around a now confused Maria.

"Wait. You are-"

"I wanted to know firsthand just how much your magic has grown in my absence; you pass with flying colors!"

"What!? You're my-"

"Surprise!" If there was a word to describe how Maria was feeling, it would be scared. This crazy doppelganger was her grandmother!? And just when her life couldn't get any stranger.

"Why didn't you just say so in the first place? You've made a lot of damage to this place that I put so must work in."

"Oh, this place is yours? Well, now I feel silly for setting it on fire; if I had known, I would've probably have been more careful." Snapping her fingers, the port was restored to the way it was before, including the ship.

"The men, are they yours too?"

"No, they're not. I'll take care of them" Maria flew over to the knocked out pirates and pursued to aid them.

* * *

James woke up the most horrible nightmare he ever had. There was a Maria imposture, and she destroyed everything, and the crew was perished along with it. He was also being ridiculed for being a two-faced low life. He heard them all before, but coming from her, seemed eerie.

"Ugh, my head."

"Easy there, Captain, you're still recovering from the shock." It was Maria.

"Maria? Is that you?" he truly didn't feel well, but that obviously didn't deter her.

"You can cut the sore routine; all you should have now is a minor headache and fatigue for being out for three days recovering."

Hook's eyes widened "Three days!? I was out for three days!?"

"Uh, yeah-to be honest, Freya said that you could've been out for a week, so you're ahead of the curb."

"Who's Freya?"

"My Grandmother, the woman who destroyed your port and attacked you three days ago."

_Why does so calm about this?_ Suddenly, he remembered the dual that Maria had with this Freya woman; boy that girl could fight! He was almost intimidated at how strong and powerful she was, it almost made him feel the need to kinda respect her.

Almost.

"Good Morning!" Speaking of which, Freya stepped in on the two with a tray of food for the captain. "Oh, look who's awake, back from the dead!"

"Grandmother, isn't there something you wish to say?"

"Well, I don't really wish it," Maria glared at her "Fine, I'm sorry I blew up your port."

"And…"

"And your ship,"

"And…"

"And you! Okay, is that good?"

"It's a start; you still have to say it to _the rest_ of the crew _after_ you've finished nursing them to consciousness." Maria noted. Freya groaned and headed off to the rest of the crew, handing the trey to her.

"You should also mention to the bug you wouldn't let me near him while he was healing, you love-sick pup!"

"Grandmother!"

* * *

**Well, that's what you call a rocky start! Still way more twists and turns to come, starting with Maria's secret.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi, I'm back! Anyone miss me? Okay, so here we get a little bit of an idea of what Maria's secret is, although I won't give it away till the almost very end of this story, and that won't be till The Pirate fairy is out to give me more to work with. I own nothing, Contains language, and a bit of "accidental" touching.**

* * *

Chapter Eight: Family Reunion

'_I was never a popular kid growing up, because I was magic and everything. I had almost no social contact of any sorts growing up._

_I was alone a lot._

_Well, alone is such a strong word; I had Orion, my father's guard dog. He followed me everywhere and was a very good listener at times when I felt the toll of my solitude get the better of me. He was such a sweet dog, but our good times ended too soon._

_One day, I decided to show my magic to a group of really popular kids from school. I was so young then; I thought if I tried really hard to impress them, they would accept me and let me play with them._

_It was just the opposite. They treated me poorly and demanded stuff from me in exchange of not telling their parents and telling them lies so they would do something bad to me. I felt so betrayed; I went to school with these kids, and they all seemed to be too nice and accepting._

_But no. they weren't._

_One day, a boy asked for me to turn him into a man like his father, to show him he could be as strong as him. I cried saying that I hadn't the capability to do such a thing; I could only retrieve and obtain things, like a common dog. He got mad and started beating me up, causing me to draw blood and lose consciousness. I couldn't find it in myself to fight back, I wasn't a fighter. _

_I was a witch. I didn't even feel the pain._

_Suddenly, the boy stopped hurting me and began screaming in pain. At first, I thought my dog had come to rescue me when he heard me crying. I opened my eyes for a second and saw the boy, beating himself up, scratching and bleeding, everything he did to me in full blow. Finally he stopped and lied there on the ground in a writhing mess, covered in scrapes and bruises. He gave one look at me and swore I'd regret using my "black magic" on him, but I never did. The next day, nobody knew I was magic, and were back to their two-faced, goody-goody selves again. However, that same day, Orion got sick and died; it was the only time I ever cried. I didn't even cry when my parents died, he was really a sweet dog, and a true friend. _

_I never knew how their memories were erased with their other memories intact; and I probably never will._

* * *

I stood at the edge of the bed of James' bed, trying so hard not to laugh as he inspected every bite of food Freya made for him, only to ask me to take a little bite to check if it was poisoned.

"Okay, I think the first bite of food would've made it obvious that it's not poisoned. Two, I'm magic, therefore immune to poison. And three, isn't this technically called 'indirect kissing'?" James stopped mid-chewing, his eyes growing wide at the realization. He even fed it to her!

"Alright, I think I've had enough breakfast. Tell your grandmother she makes marvelous French toast."

"Hmm? Oh she didn't make it; she just brought it up here. I made it."

_Great, this can't get any more awkward._

"Hello, captain bug pirate!"

_It just did._

"Hey Grandmother, I'm just about done here."

"I still can't believe she's supposed to be your _grandmother_. I mean, just look at her!"

"I know, I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and little Mary here looks so cute because she looks just like me." Freya gave me a hug from behind, accidentally squeezing my chest. She glared at them. "Although I have no clue where she these came from," she said bitterly, taking both in her grip.

"AOW! OWOWOWOWOWOWOW! OW, THAT HURTS, OW!" James blushed at the display of seeing this, he only ever heard of this happening at the dorms of the older students at Eton, and they were graphic.

"They're so squishy! How do you make them so big?" Freya teased.

"Okay, I think we get the point now!" Maria called out desperately, feeling bruises coming on.

"Oh, that reminds me, Jimmy! Granny Freya would like a word with you!" Freya said, releasing Maria harshly, pushing her backwards to the floor.

James groaned as he got up from the bed. I stayed behind to clean up, my chest still recovering from, whatever that was.

'_Ugh, that's definitely gonna leave a mark.'_

* * *

"You wanted to see me?" James asked, giving Freya a wide birth, in case she pulled something.

"Yes; it's about Maria, I think she's falling in love with you." She put simply.

_Well, that was out of the blue. _"Oh. Is she?" He inquired the look in his eye.

"Yes, and as you already know, I know how you can be- taking advantage of people when they wear their heart on their sleeves for very selfish purposes." Suddenly, Freya had Hook by the neck as before, but this time, she just kept him suspended instead of actually choking him. "This is more for your protection, I know that my little Mary can hold her own." As she talked, hook gave glared at her in disdain, despite the pain. "You so much as think of breaking her heart, there will be hell to pay, and not just from me. Hell, you'll beg for me to do away with you by the time Maria is finished with you."

"What's that supposed to mean, ah!"

"It means just what I say; count your lucky stars she gave mercy to you bugs when she heard your plans for her."

Hook froze. "She…knew?"

"Yes, right down to holding her prisoner and lining your pockets with silver and gold." Suddenly, it got very tense around the two.

"I, I promise I won't do a thing to Maria. This, I swear." Hook demonstrated this by crossing his heart with his finger. Freya smiled and set the shaken captain back on the deck.

"Well, now that that's taken care, we can head off to sideways!"

"Side-who?" Maria walked out of the captain's quarters, empty tray of dishes in tow."

"Sideways, in-between the particles." Freya yanked Maria towards the front of the boat to an opening in the side of the island. "It's just beyond this little tunnel up ahead."

"That's odd, I never seen that sailing around Neverland." James pointed out, rubbing his sore neck and clearing it up.

"That's because you're a bug, bug. You need to be magic like me and Maria to find it."

"Um, if I may; what's sideways in-between the particles?"

"My home, where you came from; it pretty much is in the same space as that Pixie Hollow, where the fairies live, but it's on a different scale; sort of a world between worlds to hide our kind from prying eyes." Freya explained. The boat tunneled into the hole, its darkness covering everything to the point of being felt. To James, it felt cold and lonely, but to Maria and Freya, it was like being wrapped in soft velvet, smooth and inviting.

Then, a flash of white light popped out of nowhere. The next thing they knew, the three were docking in an old, rustic village, untouched by time, yet seemed far ahead of anyone on the mainland. There were mainly girls as far as the eye could see. Little girls, young ladies, old sage women. James felt out of place in this village. For one thing, it was dark; wasn't it in the middle of the day just a minute ago?

"Where are all the men?"

"Men are an endangered species here, captain bug; the community here mostly holds no more than 3% of males, all in either London or in their golden years. It's a rarity for a male to be born out of magic." Freya said simply, loving the big frown James got from continuously being called a bug.

The shipped docked, and nearly every witch in the area noticed and crowded around the ship.

"Freya, you dog! What in the world have been up to this time?!" one of the townsfolk called out.

"I found some pirates and my long-estranged granddaughter!"

"Huh, is that all!?"

"That's Lucille, the judge in out court house." Freya noted to Maria, who was taken into everything around her. I really felt like she belonged here.

James docked the ship and tended to the papers for passage here. Meanwhile, Freya took no time in showing Maria around and introducing her to everyone.

"This is Kristen, she's our prime baker; Hazel, she takes care of our agriculture in town; Jade, and she's the head librarian…"

"It's very nice to meet you all!" Maria was beyond joy, seeing her own kind, and not a single one obsessed with her magic!

"To the ice cream parlor; parfaits are on me!" Freya declared happily.

* * *

To say I was happy to find my birthplace, and people who were just like me, was a severe understatement. I never felt so accepted.

"So, I don't get it. Even though we can make our own gold coins, you still use it as currency?" I asked, taking a bit out of my sundae.

"Well, just because we can do something, doesn't mean we have to. The more we make of it, the more obsolete it becomes. It's more of a last minute resort to us, to clear up a stubborn debt or something." Freya bit into her cherry and did that knot with her tongue on the stalk.

"So, why didn't my mother or father have any magic?"

"Your father's easy, he's just a human. Your mother's generation doesn't have magic; my family skips a few times before you ended up with the witch genes. To be fairly honest, it was just the luck of the draw; your mother had potential of being a fine witch, but she just didn't have the skill or mindset necessary to be a prodigy like you."

"A prodigy? You're saying I'm a prodigy?"

"Oh yes, being able to summon your demon at a young age is quite a feat even for witches."

I froze. It was as if all time had stood still. _My__** demon?**_

"Oh yes, I observed every day of your life since you were born."

"Then how come you never came over!? That would've been helpful!"

"Because your mother didn't really know who I was."

"What?"

"When she turned eighteen, I erased all memories of me from her min, so she could live a normal life with the one she loved, without feeling the burden of being different."

"That's so sad; to have to make your daughter forget everything about you."

"It wasn't a complete loss; I got to live the memories of raising her. I got to see her grow into a fine woman, married and with a kid. I even snuck in as a mid-wife to help deliver you."

"You WHAT!?"

"Why do you sound so surprised? Although I gotta admit, you sure could pack it away as a baby, you were so chubby."

"Grandmother!"

James walked in on the two women talking and asked for something cold to drink.

"I can't believe that you left me all alone to deal with the docking papers! What have you been up to?"

"Nothing; just catching up, captain bug." He frowned at the comment and took a swig of his raspberry ice.

"When will the crew wake up? They've been asleep for quite a while and it's concerning me."

"Aw, Jimmy, you do care!"

"No I don't! They need to be working and tending to the ship, not snoozing the day away! Speaking of which, how come it's so dark here?"

"Witches draw power from the shadows, that's why we do our best work at night; especially in the presence of the moon."

"Why?" Maria asked.

"Because we were created from the ivory beams of the lunar lights, in the beginning, when there was only darkness, we brought light."

"Wow."

"I'll fill you in more on it later; right now, we have to get you ready for the party!"

"What party?"James asked.

"Maria's; next week, she'll be eighteen, the same day as the Harvest Moon Debutant Ball!"

"Oh yeah, I forgot I was gonna turn eighteen next week."

"And tonight, we're going shopping!"

"And what will I be doing here in the meantime?"

"You're going to be her escort, and my date."

"What!?"

"I'm just messing with you- You'll be my escort and _her_ date." Both James and Maria froze at what Freya said. Date, as in, date?

* * *

**Yay! A party! But, just what events will occur before the metaphorical night is over? I decided to throw you guys a bone and get an inkling of Maria's big secret, but it doesn't stop there! Oh no, I'm adding ties, I'm adding suspense, I added profiles on my Bio of Freya and Maria if anyone wants to see. Any requests are much obliged.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey, me again! So, picking up where we left off, Maria gets a little more involved into her heritage, customs, etc. James is gonna feel a bit out of place (and very concerned for his well being); let's see where our nutty grandmother takes us next, hopefully not off a cliff (hint, hint). So, I just found out the names of the pirates in the movie, and pretty soon, so later, I'll be renaming the guy I confused for Mr. Smee (apparently, it was another old guy who looked like him named Oppenheimer, my bad). I just saw a dance sequence in Rio 2, and it was so inspiring, I just **_**had **_**to use it! I own nothing save for my original characters. Enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter Nine: The Ball

Maria and Freya were in the town library while James skimmed through every single library book, often time slipping useful information from pages into his pockets while he thought no one was looking.

"He does know we're all magic here, right?" Freya asked annoyed by the display the selfish bug put on.

"He has a tendency to forget; just let him have his fun for now." Maria flipped through the pages of a specific book on "Witch's Demons". "Okay, so when you called it a demon, you didn't mean the one forged by-"

"-That guy? Hell no." Freya flipped the pages of the book to the image of what she called a demon. "They're sort of like an extension of our souls. Sometimes, when we go through something capable enough to break our spirits, they act as a protector, someone to help us through it till the ordeal is over. Depending on the situation, it can help you like beating up a snot-nose bug, or _protecting something you love._" Freya referred to James, who was currently being held upside down by the librarian, the slips of paper he stole falling out and returning to their rightful places.

Maria scoffed. "Him? You can't be serious."

"Then why did you call on your demon to give you flight and fire to stop me? You could've let him die you know, he's just a bug meant to be squashed."

"You're wrong. He didn't deserve that kind of torture you put him through, to be called worthless…"

"You heard what he was gonna do, he had no interest for you save for obtaining petty coins and refined minerals taken from the ground. Face it, he deserved way more than what I was giving him, to want to do that to you."

"But he didn't succeed. I stopped him."

"Then why didn't you just leave him alone? Why did you have any care for that little bug? Why is he so important to you?"

"Because… because…" Maria was at a loss for words. Freya decided to stop there; you could only play around with a person so much before it wasn't funny anymore.

"Well, it's official, I HATE this place!" James sat with the two at their table and readjusted himself. "You are all crazy to think I'm going to spend another second in this, this hellhole!"

"Sorry Captain bug, but the only way out is if you have an escort, and I'm not very willing to be so generous."

Maria stayed silent for a while, letting the two bicker. _Was she really in love with James? But he's so selfish and materialistic, he hates it when things don't go his way, he's immature…_ Maria took another look at James while he wasn't looking._ And handsome, and educated, and really charismatic, cute…_ Maria shook her head vigorously, desperately trying to pry herself of these conflicting feelings.

James took notice of it. "Hey, you feel alright?"

"I just had a _very_ eventful three days; my head's spinning is all."

"Well enough of that, onto more important matters, like putting your outfit together for the ball!" Freya said excitedly.

"Can't I just wear one of my fancy gowns in my bag?"

"Heavens no, that's not this year's theme!" Freya pulled out a flyer from her purse and held it up. "This year's theme is Exotic, Brazilian Birds; it's gonna be hosted at the Indian camp. We need to put together an outfit with feathers, beads, bright colors, and you need to practice dancing-"

"DANCING?!"

"DANCING?!" both James and Maria called out at once.

"Duh! It is a ball; you can't have a ball without dancing!"

"But I don't know how to dance." Maria confessed.

"Oh, what a shame, it seems we won't be going after all. Come on Maria, let's head home." For once, Maria agreed with James, and before Freya could say another word, the two marched out of that library like there was no tomorrow, but they didn't go far. Outside the doors stood none other than Hook's mother, smirking at them. James wondered why before he saw that he had Maria in an arm lock. He instantly let go and now wondered how on earth his mother was here.

* * *

How on earth is James' mother here? I smiled warmly as Gertrude gave her son a hug, and then turned to give me one.

"Oh, how lovely to see you two, small world this is."

"Mother, how are you here?!" James asked completely surprised.

"Oh, one of me crew members is a witch, said somethin' bout' a party going on, and I wanted in." Gertrude stopped to notice Freya coming up behind the couple. Her face darkened.

"Well well, my old friend Captain Gertrude."

"It's 'Gutting Gertrude' to you, you old git!"

"I'm gonna make you eat those words with a side of PAIN!" suddenly, Freya and Gertrude went out in a full out sword fight, slicing and jabbing, dodging and missing. Finally, after what seemed like forever, they stopped abruptly, just staring each other down with hate in their eyes.

Then, they started laughing.

"Oh Gertrude, you old sea dog, you haven't changed a bit."

"Neither have you, Freya, stilled as deadly fast as ever!" Both women then began hugging each other and talking amongst themselves.

Both James and I just stood there, mouth agape, staring at them. _What the hell just happened?_

Both women stopped talking long enough to see James and Maria in a very confused state.

"We knew each other back in the day; we actually met almost killing each other."

"I remember that day, I thought for sure you had me pegged for death, till I took hold of your thingy that holds all your power."

"Ah yes, I can still feel the sensation of all my energy being leaked out of me; the very same feeling as tearing off my own arm and then rubbing salt on it, a _very_ interesting sensation indeed." Maria felt her face pale at the way to casual remark.

"Oh yeah, are these two goin' to that party?"

"I'm afraid your son doesn't want to attend, says he can't dance."

James mother gasped "No son of mine is going to miss out of going to a dance because he's got two left feet." She turned towards me and James "You two are going, and you're both going TOGETHER!" James and I nodded shakily, officially scared out of our wits end of these two nut jobs, even hook was a little intimidated of his mother now.

* * *

So, just like that Hook and Maria stood at the entrance of the Indian camp, which was now full of people, natives, and witches of both genders. There was Amazon music, a spread of both native and western food, along with other foods Maria didn't recognize, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Hook's crew members finally woke up and were currently raiding the food and drink.

"I thought your grandmother said you needed to put together a dress for this." James said, noting Maria was still in her plain clothes.

"We did, she just wants to wait till the party's in full swing for me to put it on."

"Well now I feel silly standing next to you." James said, wearing just his favorite best dressed red coat and feathered hat complete with his father's family ring on his left ring finger.

Freya and Gertrude, meanwhile, were putting the finishing touches on the surprise they had in store for James and Maria on the makeshift stage.

"So, you're all good on what to do?" Freya asked, slipping on her coat to hide her outfit.

"Operation: Meddling is in effect in three, two, and one." Freya walked towards the two wallflowers, acting in her definition, natural.

"Oh, is this some party or what? I gotta tell ya. They _really _went all out this year." Maria nodded shyly, still a bit hazy about what to do at a function like this. James had decided to walk towards the spread to meet up with his crew and find his mother, who was now doing a jugging contest with the chief who just found out he was a father and completely forgetting the plan.

_Oh well, I can handle it from here by myself._

"Say Mary, ya wanna dance with me, my favorite song is about to come up, can't refuse your favorite grandmother, now can you?"

Maria looked at her then shrugged "Well, okay. But just one dance; and how am I supposed to-"

"I got you covered." Freya tapped her forehead lightly, making it glow for two seconds.

"What was that?"

"Oh I just implanted ability to professionally dance and what dance you need to dance professionally for… no big deal." Freya leaded her to the center of the dance floor, where she noticed the makeshift stage of natives with drums, a couple holding didgeridoos, an instrument she recognized was only native in Australia. What kind of natives were these?

The music started, some of them singing and trilling, and suddenly Maria felt like she knew _exactly_ what to dance.

_Let's come together,_

_See if you love and are a miah,_

_We are so different,_

_But the same inside our hearts…_

The two started in a simple tango **(Picture the first 41 seconds of when Buzz and Jessie from Toy Story 3 were dancing in the end credits… I have no shame)**

_Beautiful colors_

_As far as the eye can see ya, ah!_

_Open your wings_

_Fly when you hear the call!_

Suddenly, Freya opened her coat at the same time as Maria's dress flared up, replaced with exotic feathered dresses. Maria's was decorated island blue with pink beads and peacock feathers, while Freya's was decorated green with blue beads and parrot feathers. They took to the air and began dancing their version of, ironically, flamenco dancing!

_Let's celebrate!_

_For we are beautiful creatures!_

_Come spread your wings,_

_And come sing songs about freedoms!_

_Like la-la la-vewm-vewm!_

_Before the jungle familia`_

_Like bah-bah bah-bewm-bewm_

_For we are beautiful creatures!_

The other party member took their example and danced to the air as well, taking a few braves and male wizards with them. Even the pirates were getting along. It was a sight to see!

_Come this way, celebrate!_

_Laugh and dance all the way! (Bah-bah-bah ah!)_

_Follow me, sing eh-long,_

_La-la vah-vah vewm-vewm! (La-la Vah ah!)_

_(Braves and male wizards): singing in Portuguese_

_(Male and female mix): singing in Portuguese_

The chief and Gertrude were even singing with the pirates, despite their drunken state. It was funny to look at.

_Chief: Pop-pop!_

_I am a pop-pop_

_I am a (scatting in Portuguese)_

_I am your pop-pop!_

_Yeah, I am the pop-pop-pop!_

_(More scatting) pop-pop-pop!_

_Eh! The pop-pop!_

_Eh! (More scatting) pop!_

_Gertrude: woo!_

Mid-song, Maria had a wonderful idea crazy enough to actually work. Swooping down, she found James and transformed his coat into a decorated red parrot-feathered coat, transferring the dance along with it. Without thinking twice, Maria pulled him in mid air and finished the song with him.

_Let's celebrate!_

_For we are beautiful creatures!_

_Come spread your wings,_

_And come sing songs about freedoms!_

_Like la-la la-vewm-vewm!_

_Before the jungle familia`_

_Like bah-bah bah-bewm-bewm_

_For we are beautiful creatures!_

The song finished, and everyone cheered at the couple who finished with a grand finale. Maria looked to James, who was smiling like a loon from all the fun he had dancing. Maria had to admit it now; she had really fallen for the cunning pirate.

* * *

**For either reader who doesn't like knock-offs of dance sequences from other movies, I am truly sorry (I blame the song, it's too catchy, and I felt it fit right into the chapter. You can find the clip and the whole song on youtube). Oh, Maria likes the captain, and she admitted it! What will happen now? Review gently please!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Ok, so now I'm coming to the part where The Pirate Fairy is suppose to take action. I'm sort of gonna cheat and say Zarina had only been with the pirates for four months and living on her own for eight, and the one year ago thing was just a coincidence. This is where jealousy rears its ugly head for Maria and a twisted punishment is in order. Prepare yourselves! One more note, may contain spoilers; don't wanna read, wait for the movie, then read. I own nothing.**

* * *

Chapter Ten: The Pirate Fairy

After that big dance number, there were a couple others and someone even started a conga line (I think it was that Oppenheimer fellow) and I was currently conversing with several male wizards from the mainland.

"I remember the first time I summoned my demon," a boy named Wilbert noted, his friends called him Willy. "Some lowly bug was trying to feel bigger than me by beating me up at school when I used my demon to curse his luck and shift it to extremely unfortunate; the next day, the poor bloke kept getting hit by lightning till I took off the curse in his coma." The other boys started laughing hysterically.

"Well here's what mine did;" a redhead by the name of Michael called out "this one time, a prissy girl decided to ask me to meet her at the park only to have her friends laugh at me while throwing garbage at me, and my demon took their ability to lie and they went three whole weeks just blabbing the truth to everyone they met!" They laughed even harder.

"Say Maria, what did yours do the first time you summoned it?"

"Yes, this should be a hoot, all the girls here have the best demon stories!" all the boys turned to me and waited patiently for a response.

"Uh, okay. I doubt it'll be funny though. Well, when I was little, I exposed my magic to a bunch of kids at school. They threatened to tell their parents if I didn't use my magic to give them things they wanted, and one day a boy asked me to make him older. When I didn't give him what he wanted, he started beating me up. Then I guess that's when my demon helped me, the boy started getting beat up till he drew blood, and the next day, no one knew my secret anymore. I never knew why though, I didn't learn memory erasing till I was twelve." I looked up to see the men with all their faces in utter shock.

"What?"

"You exposed your magic to bugs?"

"Yes."

"And you got your demon to beat him up?! Mine can't even materialize like that, and it puts curses on people!"

"Materialize?"

"Yes, miss. You see, our demons do their work in their most basic form, a shadow. They leave our bodies in our sleep or at night when it's dark. We can't get ours to materialize and touch people like you just described, what time did you say you summoned it?"

"It was sunset, but still light out." The boys all wowed at that.

"You must be Freya's descendant. She's the only one we know with that kind of capability."

"Yeah, you are like a true prodigy, you are." The boys started fawning over me like I was the center of attention. Meanwhile, James was growing hot at all the boys that had circled around me; I could practically hear his death thought for the boys from across the camp.

"Blasted girl, all those men parading around her like mere samples, I'm practically the main course in comparison!"

"Not getting jealous there, are we captain bug?" Freya Snaked past the drunken crew behind James.

"Me? Hell no, I'm a pirate! I don't get involved with petty emotions like jealousy!" James retorted, taking a big swig of his drink.

"Really? Then it doesn't bother you that Maria's already betrothed?"

James spit out his drink. "To WHO?!"

Freya started laughing hysterically "You love her! You love her! You really, really love her! Ha!" James blushed madly and walked away in a huff.

"Oh by the way, I'm going to keep her here for a while to get a better grip on her magic, so you gotta find something to do in your spare time other than plan how to make out with her, love bug!" Freya called out to the steamed captain. James just kept walking and told his crew to prepare to leave in the morning with his mother, if she ever stopped drinking and flirting with the chief. She decided to leave it at that so she could torment him some more later and decided to go tell her favorite granddaughter the news.

* * *

"So, for three months, I'm going to stay here with you and learn more about magic?"

"Yeah, your father was right to go looking for those books, mind you, but those things are _centuries _old, you need an update."

"Great! I can't wait to get started!" I said enthusiastically. I couldn't believe it, I was gonna train with one of the best witches in town, and she's my grandmother! Okay, so she's a little off her rocker, and ruthless around humans, and very powerful… maybe I should put in some training before we get started.

"Oh! I nearly forgot to mention the best part."

"What's that?"

"We're gonna spy on James."

"Why? I can read his mind, why would-"

"Ugh, for a witch, you have zero imagination. Reading his mind is one thing, but actually spying on him in plain sight is even more fun, and even more challenging."

"How do we do that?"

"Hmm, you'll see. For now though, let me show you where I live."

"But what about the party?"

"Don't worry, we'll be back by the time it's over; sometimes we throw parties that sometimes last for two days,."

"Well, okay, but please for me, no more heart-attack surprises."

"No promises."And with that, we left the party and headed back to the town. I didn't even need my broomstick anymore for flying; since I met grandmother, I no longer sought need to travel with it.

Back at the town, it looked practically deserted.

"What, did every witch in the community go to the party?"

"I wouldn't say _everyone_, but yeah, the majority left. What can I say; we just love to party-hearty." Freya said, leading me to the far west of the town, where there was a church up ahead.

"You live in church?"

"Uh, yes and no. I sort of crash there whenever I come back from stuff I do on the mainland; mostly job-based."

"What's your job?"

"Hmm, I thought it would've been obvious by now."

"Huh?"

"Remember when I said I delivered you as a baby when your mother was expecting? Well, I was only half-sneaking. I'm a mid-wife for real." Freya noted, opening the back door of the church. The inside was basically a hallway with a counter with a several phones in a row and a chart of all mid-wives and their assignments for each country where a witch was expecting or a sick disabled in need of service. The halls lead into a kitchen with brass pots and pan hanging from the ceiling, an old nun who looked to be in her sixties was rummaging around looking for something.

"You-hoo, Miss Mary Porter! I'm back, and I brought my granddaughter with me!"

The nun looked over her shoulder and stared wide-eyed "Freya, you have a granddaughter!? When did this happen?"

"Eighteen years ago today."

"Hi, I'm Maria; do you need help looking for something?"

"Oh, she's a saint, she's nothing like you. And to answer your question, I'm looking for very delicious pumpkin bread covered in powdered sugar to go with my tea, Mary Patrick hid it again, but she can't hide from these eyes, I assure you." Mary Porter shoved a bunch of odds and ends out of the way and opened a tin cracker box in the back of the kitchen oven.

"Did you find it?" Freya asked inquisitively. Sure enough, Mary Porter found the bread.

"Would you and your granddaughter care for some, it was just made this morning."

"Sure."

"None for me, I'm watching my figure."

"What figure? Seeing you and your granddaughter side by side, you look like the dead." Freya glared at the nun and sat at the table, taking a huge slice of bread with her tea.

* * *

Three months seemed to go by a lot faster when in the community; I learned so much in that time. Mostly grandmother showed me off to the other nuns; I didn't get most of their names, but they seemed to have lived for a very long time, even longer then grandmother. According to them, they found this place by accident when Mary Smith was charting stars and ended up finding this place on a wing. From there, all wizards and witches, along with a few homeless natives that were kicked off their land joined together in a mass exodus to what the natives referred to as Neverland, for time moved so slowly, it was as if it stood still. The natives still grew, but at a certain age, they stopped and remained young and strong.

However, despite the new location, they feared one day the witches would be found and killed off once more. While the natives claimed to be to strong of character to want to hide, the head council of the colony decided to have a separate plain to themselves from safety, furthering themselves from danger.

Because the island seemed to fuel their magic to their peak, the goal was accomplished within a fortnight, and they decided to keep an eternal dusk to keep their magic when it was its most powerful.

In the days that followed, grandmother showed me several tactics that I didn't even learn yet. I learned how to turn invisible and mute my voice so I could talk while in front of someone, but they didn't even know I was there. I learned how to shape shift into animals and even create animals to look scarier in the face of danger, my favorite was the cat. I also learned a trick on my bag to always have what I need; a charm that directly connected to my house so I would never run out of things in my bag that I could possibly need from home, like my favorite perfume.

I almost forgot about James until grandmother declared it was time to leave to see what he was up to. She even taught me some basic self defense that she learned traveling in Asia; I think she called them "Martial Arts".

"So what's the plan grandmother? We swoop in and say 'hi, we're back from training!" I asked, flying out of the town square.

"Nah, to obvious. What we need a disguise to get in undetected, and then we can swoop in and catch them completely off guard!"

"And then what?"

"You remember that thing I showed you two week ago, how to do-"

"Oh that, you really think I'm ready for that?"

"I think this will be a very good time to try it out."

"Yes, I finally get to do the thing!" I was excited now, not just of the thing, but also to see what James had been up to these last few months.

* * *

If I had to name the lowest, meanest, nastiest double-crossing people in the world, James would be three of them! I had only been gone for three months and here he is charming another girl behind my back! Granted, she was a fairy, but still! I was so annoyed by how dense James could be. The nerve!

"Seems he doesn't miss you right now-"

"Can it grandmother, I see that." We took the form of common house cats for our disguises. Grandmother was a light purple cat with big green eyes and a black collar with a silver crescent on it. I was a reddish-brown with wavy fur and a blue collar with a gold heart on it. We played close attention not to get caught at least till we got to skull rock. Meanwhile, I could feel my fur stand up on end as I saw James singing and dancing with that fairy. 'Well they seemed to be having a grand old time together', I thought bitterly, heading to the captains quarters, not wanting to see anymore while my grandmother took notice of more fairies and a rat.

I hope to god she doesn't eat it.

Inside the cabin, I saw James' desk littered with odds and ends as well as a miniature bed. I crawled up on the bed and decided to wait here till they docked the ship. At the far end of the room, I noticed a jar of red feathers placed neatly by the window. Well, it was sweet of him to keep those after all this time.

I heard the door open and sat up to see that fairy James had been dancing with earlier come in and set her load on the desk. She noticed me and jingled erratically.

"Shh, it's okay. I'm not going to eat you." I whispered quietly. She looked at me funny and blinked a few times. We heard a knock at the door and I dove head first under the bed, not wanting James to see me just yet.

"Permission to enter, captain."

Captain!? So now she was the captain too!? Oh, this man was gonna get an earful by the time I was through with him.

"I had Oppenheimer make you your favorite; I know how you like a little something sweet while you work." He said admiringly.

"Meow." I slipped my tongue listening to him and exposed myself. He looked toward the bed and found me underneath.

"Oh, what a cute little cat." He said in that same admiring tone he used for that fairy. I rolled my eyes and crept out slowly, him picking me up in the process.

"Odd, I'm usually allergic to cats, but you seem to smell of sweet perfume; how lovely." He stocked my fur a few times, getting a few purrs out of me; it felt nice. He paused his petting to revert his attention to the fairy again, which seemed to understand the situation. While they conversed, I just sat on James lap and thought of just how I was gonna get back at him for this, I mean it was obvious why he was doing this- he wanted to leave Neverland and plunder every port in the world of its treasure.

Honestly, it's almost like he doesn't know me at all.

They finished up on their little conversation (though its beyond me how he could understand her jingling) and marched outside to the tree, where the two planned to make the ship fly using the contents in that vial the fairy had.

"Maria, you in here?"

"Grandmother, did you catch what that blue stuff was in the vial?"

"Uh, duh, they sang a song about it. I also know where they got it."

"From Pixie Hollow?"

"Mmh and how it's made. I'll fill you in later, right now; we have a ship to crash!"

* * *

**And done, another chapter finished. Whoo, this is a beauty. Next chapter will show the full on wrath of what happens when you play a woman for a fiddle. It's gonna be unusual. Trust me.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry for the late update, severe case of writers block, then I unblocked it, only to want to write another story! In conclusion, in a few weeks, I'm finishing up this story and starting another story in the Ninja Turtles Archives. Oh boy, James has done it now. Not only has he angered Maria, now he's gonna double-cross a fairy? That's not gonna be pretty. Oh, well, we live and learn. To the story! PS- I own nothing.**

* * *

Chapter Eleven: Cruel and Unusual Punishment

The inside of the cave was in poor conditions; did they remember to clean this place? The buildings were okay, but the ground was covered in garbage and was getting in the water. That's unsanitary. Besides that, the only thing new was the tree; it grew the last time I saw it. It also had a large tub on the side of the trunk, along with a bunch of shuts leading directly over the ship.

How curious.

"So, how are we going to get around this?" I asked curiously to grandmother.

"They seem to have the main drift of how the tree works; I bet my coin collection back home he's gonna call mutiny on that fairy by the time they finally make that fairy dust."

"You said you know how that blue dust is made before; what did you mean?"

Grandmother turned to me, a scary smirk on her face "Blue dust for fairies is made by the blue lights of a simmering moonstone, made by the tears of compassion, sympathy, and happiness from witches." She put simply. "When we first came to Neverland, all the witches were so uplifted by the change; they cried tears of joy that hardened into tiny moonstones, enough to fill a lake the size of the island. My guess is a storm blew away the tears into the ocean, breaking them in the process, and a fairy managed to find one in their home, making flying dust."

"So fairy dust is actually witch dust?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't really matter now, they do a great job of helping the world and its living creatures. It's one less thing for us to do."

Grandmother and I walked across the deck and inspected the tree; they were just about nearly done with it.

"Okay, I saw some fairies sneaking around from earlier, so you just stay put here for now while I go look for some, _reinforcements_." Freya returned to her human form and flew off to the east across the sea.

Meanwhile, I ventured to the ship's brig in search of something to entertain me till she returned.

I was shocked to see Oppenheimer and a little cage with fairies in it; and… a baby crocodile? The little thing helped the fairies out of the cage and began attacking Oppenheimer while they left in his coat, shoes and hat.

'Hmm, follow the fairies or help Oppenheimer?' Oppenheimer.

I snuck over towards the baby croc and hissed as loud as I could, making him squeal in surprise.

"Bad baby croc, BAD! You don't bite people!" I said sternly, pointing my paw at him. He looked at me funny and noticed my tail. He smiled big and went to bite it. I hissed again and flung my tail to his face, where he tried catching it with his little claws. I cocked an eyebrow and flung it again in his face; this time he caught it and began teething it with his baby teeth.

"OW!"

Oppenheimer gasped "You talked! A cat that can talk!"

"No no no, Oppenheimer, it's me, Maria!"

"Maria!? You're a cat? What- how did you-"

"Long story- OW!" I yanked my tail out of the baby croc's mouth and once again told him no; he just looked at me funny and continued to torment Oppenheimer.

The ship rumbled noticeably and began to elevate upwards. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that James got the ship to fly. I left to the top of the ship where I saw James had that fairy in a lantern.

Ugh, he's such a- my thoughts were cut short by the scene that played before me. James had thrown that little fairy off the ship, into the water below. Suddenly, I had a cold realization of what I was up against- a ruthless, greedy man that would do anything and everything to get what he wanted, even if it meant taking a life.

And this is the man Gertrude claimed to be good; obviously, she was gravely mistaken. While James took the helm, I watched from afar as the other fairies from before help the trapped fairy to safety. I was slightly relieved at that.

"Oh there you are, little kitty." James was right behind me and picked me up in his arms. I stared at him in surprise. "What's the matter, cat got your tongue, Maria?"

"Wha- how?"

"My crew never keeps secrets from me." I shifted back into a human, so he was now holding me by the arms.

"So this is what you've been up to while I was gone? I have wondered how you were going to get out of Never seas, alive that is. I didn't think you'd trick a fairy into being your captain; you must've had a hard time swallowing that big piece of pride of yours"

"I know brilliant right? From now on, it's smooth sailing from here on out; you're happy to stay and help plunder with me together, you can even bunk with me if it'll suit you."

"Suit me? James, you flinch every time I hold your hand; and two, I don't think you'll be airborne for long," I said, pointing to below the wheel, revealing all seven fairies armed and ready for action.

"Fairies! Fairies!" Yang screeched in fury.

"Huh, she's back! Don't just stand there, get them off my ship!" The crew did as he said and went to take care of the stowaways. James turned to me and cleared his throat. "Aren't you going to fight?"

"Whoa, I'm more neutral ground, I don't fight."

"Then I suggest retreating to the captains quarters, unless you want the fight to come to you."

"Fine, I'll leave." I cooperated, I could always deal with him later when grandmother returned, and I was actually half-expecting the little fairies to kick his butt in the funniest way possible.

Inside the cabin, I decided to take this opportunity to retrieve a few things, while everyone was fighting outside, I took the liberty of prying through James' belongings, taking anything that looked important: Birth documents, maps, old books and diaries (that I would look through later) and a box with his father's ring in it.

Suddenly, the whole ship turned upside down; I hovered in the middle of the room while the rest of the furniture broke and hit the ceiling, which was now the floor, then back on the ground-ground. 'James was not gonna be happy when he sees this.' I gathered his things and conjured up my bag to put them at my place back in the mainland so I could retrieve them later. I exited the cabin to see most of the cannons and barrels were gone, along with the rest of the crew.

"Where's James?"

* * *

'Let's see, where did she say those guys were again?' Freya had been flying for a solid two hours looking for those "reinforcements' Gertrude had told of earlier when she was at the party.

There was another ship stuck in the never seas that Gertrude said she helped with against a sea monster, they seemed really nice and a bit airheaded, so she gave them a map to follow to Neverland to wait till Freya came to get them home. So far, she hadn't found them yet.

BOOM!

A cannonball appeared out of nowhere and bounced off Freya like a dodge ball, practically cracking to pieces from the impact. Freya turned to see a large red ship behind her, how long was that there.

"Sorry there miss, we didn't see you there!" a short, stubby man said politely. Freya smiled and flew towards the ship.

"Did a lady by the name of gutting Gertrude come to assist you?"

"Why yes, she did. She was very nice to assist us at finding a place to stay while we wait."

"So you must be-"

"Bartholomew Smeethington-But please, call me Mr. Smee."

"Okay, Mr. Smee, before I help you get home, I have a small favor to ask. It involves my granddaughter…"

"Granddaughter? Humph, never saw you as old to be a grandmother, what with you being so young and all." he noted.

* * *

"Lean right, _fly_ right! I'll take that!" James snatched the blue dust from the pirate fairy while Maria kept her distance and merely observed.

Oh grandmother, I hope you come soon; this is getting ugly.' Maria prayed as she saw the heated tug of war with the two, seeing the ship move closer and closer to the second star.

"Stay put for a while till I return." What was she thinking!? I can't do anything without disrupting my neutral ground, but if I don't this could be bad.

"You fought well, but it's over," James said to the fairy, who was now currently down for the count. "The dust is mine, the ship is mine. Your little adventure has come, to an end." The fairy noticed a single blue speck. "Oh go ahead, take it! What's one speck between friends?" he said, all too sure of his victory before he actually won, the dunce. The fairy retrieved the speck and threw it to James, making his dust swirl him out of control, freeing the other fairies in the process.

"Maria! Help me!"

"No can do, Captain, that would be interference on my part." Maria smiled, watching James fly all over the place till one fairy, Maria noticed was that same tinker fairy from before, rose the water in the sea so James would fly straight into it, washing the dust off him in the process.

"Blast!" He said as he fell back into the cold sea water. The fairies all grouped together in celebration of retrieving their lost pixie dust. The tinker fairy turned to Maria, who was now sitting on the railing of the ship; Maria smiled apologetically.

"Yeah, sorry, but witches are strictly neutral ground when it comes to fighting." The tinker fairy jingled in surprise, like asking "You're a witch!?"

"Yes, but a very good one, and I promise to keep those pirates well away from that blue dust of yours. Besides, I have a bone to pick with the captain." She seemed pleased with the response and flittered away with the other fairies back to Pixie Hollow on the ship.

Maria flew down and began to follow James while he was hilariously chased by the same baby croc from earlier, which now began ticking like Oppenheimer's clock.

"Can you assist me now!?" He pleaded "Please, I'm begging you!"

"Sorry Captain, you still need to be punished for leading on another girl that wasn't me."

"But she was a fairy!"

"What's the difference?" Maria chuckled, following the pirate a little more as he kept getting his butt chomped by the baby reptilian.

* * *

It was nearly sunset before I thought James had had enough of the water and propped him on an old trunk in the water.

"Ah, cold, cold!"

"Now you feel what I felt for four straight hours!" James groaned as I helped him get a better grip on the chest. "Wait, I thought witches don't feel pain."

"Feeling cold isn't pain, James. However, cold and water never really mixed well with Witches; it puts a damper on out magic, depending on how long we are exposed."

"And you're telling me this, why?"

"Because I know you're now stupid enough to try doing such a thing; for one, it only weakens us _to a degree_. Depending on how powerful we are, it can be to where we are powerless, to where it barely skims the surface of our magic- I fit in the latter category."

James sat up on top of the chest while I kept him level, holding onto his shoulders. He really was an idiot, but I still loved him.

"Man in the water! Oh dear." I heard someone call from behind. James turned around with the help of a hook he still had a grip on and looked up.

"Oh, that's a very nice hook," the old man noted kindly.

"Just give me a hand!"

"Guess who?" Freya peeped from behind the railing of the ship.

"Grandmother!"

"Oh no, not this woman!" James leaned back, the exhaustion finally catching up to him along with the icy cold water, causing him to pass out. I chuckled lightly at the sight, carrying James to the ship, where the kind older man wrapped him in a towel.

"Sleep well, Captain. You'll need it by the time I'm through with you." I said to myself.


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey, me again. So now we get to the part where Maria finally reveals her punishment for James for acting so foolish in the time she was gone. What will she do? Warning contains material, rated T for a reason. Read!**

* * *

Chapter Twelve: Punishment and Regrets

James once again awoken to Maria keeping a watchful eye on him. If he had any more luck, he could say everything that happened prior was just a bad dream induced by too much rum.

"You feel any better?"

"I think so." He tried to get up, but found he was still freezing cold.

"You passed out from exhaustion. I underestimated how cold the water was, you nearly lost all the heat in your body, sorry about that." Maria said, a little embarrassed.

"Is this my ship?"

"Nope. This is another ship that turned adrift during a storm." Maria said. He looked around and saw it was indeed not his ship; everything was in red. James then noticed his clothes hanging out, still dripping wet.

"Ah! Am I-"

"No! Just your coat, shirt and vest; I kept the slacks on because I knew you'd freak out if you were in nothing but your skivvies, not that I mind." James noticed Maria had a bit of an edge to her voice.

"Uh, you're not still-"

"-Extremely infuriated by your actions of what you believe is the weaker sex and full-out taking advantage of that fairy only to dispose of her in the most undignified way possible? Yeah, I would say I'm a bit miffed." Maria then looked at him to the side with that same look of embarrassment. "But, you were chased hilariously by a baby croc in freezing cold water for four hours straight. So I'll go easy on you."

"You- you will?"

"Yeah, I mean, you don't know what it's like to be magic, let alone a girl. You can't relate like I do."

"Where are you going with this?" James asked, a bad feeling coming on him.

"I think maybe it would be educational, no, _beneficial _if I made you feel _exactly_ what I have to go through every day with being magic and a girl; I'm giving you my magic."

James disregarded everything else that came before that little sentence. "You're serious?"

"…As a heart attack." Maria put a finger to his forehead and then the whole room seemed to spin. Afterwards, James opened his eyes to seeing _himself_ staring at him with a wide smirk on his face.

Huh?

"Wha-What have you done to me-huh? Is that my voice?" James voice came out high pitches and squeaked when he became hysterical.

"I switched bodies with you so you could have a full understanding of what it's like to be me, brilliant right?" James' body said to him. '_Is that, Maria? I'm in Maria's body? Oh, this is so wrong!_ James in Maria's body stood up, only to fall down and kiss the floor.

"Oh right, a males center of balance is different than that of a female, ours is much…higher." Maria now in James' body got up slowly to get a feel of her new body. It felt weird though not wearing a shirt, but not to the point where she wanted to put on a shirt. It felt a lot less restricting.

Meanwhile, James was having a hard time trying to get a handle on his new body. It kept throwing its weight around, swinging this way and moving that way, it was so puzzling, the workings of the female anatomy, how could she even stand let alone walk!?

"How do you walk in this body?"

"Ah, try letting your body do the moving and just let it move for you." He did just that and suddenly he was standing.

"Okay, it's okay. The powers make up the body. Now, to try them out!" James concentrated on a chest overstuffed with gold and diamonds flowing out of it. A whole minute went by and nothing happened. "I thought you said I had your magic!"

"You do, it's just a lot harder to summon now; my grandmother said that the males in the community have a harder time summoning their powers due to that cold logic of theirs. Some don't even show signs of being magic till their at least thirteen, even then they can only fly and summon their demon on a small scale. So very sorry, I guess you'll have to make do with what you got."

"Summon my demon, you say?"

"Yeah, but it'll be harder to get them to behave, they are very mischievous if you don't show them who's boss." This was demonstrated when Maria's demon started throwing stuff at James in her body.

"Ow, cut it out!"

"And this isn't even the half of your punishment. I'm gonna put you through the worst things we girls go through; and I'll have grandmother with me to make sure you go through all of it like a woman, right grandmother?" Freya opened the door to the cabin, an evil smirk on her face and a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"I sure am."

* * *

"No! Not those please! Anything but that!" Freya, James, who was in my body, and I were at the mainland on the streets of fair London. It was late autumn, so I didn't get to introduce Lizzie and her father to grandmother, what with school and all.

It was good though, I surely didn't want to explain this scene to them- James, who was in my body, hand-cuffed and held by the arm by my grandmother, while the other hand held firmly onto a collar that hung around _my_ neck attached to a leash. Anyone that asked, Freya merely said, "She _**really**_doesn't like clothes shopping."

Right now, we were holding James down while we fitted him into a proper corset.

"Since you're in my body now, I get to finally see what I look like to other people, so I can finally use myself as a second opinion for clothes shopping."

"Is everything alright here ladies, and mister…?"

"Barrie, James Barrie. How do you do? I'm her cousin, granny _insisted _I come to assist in cloths shopping for Maria here; she's so difficult when it comes to women's clothing, a regular tom boy, if I may."

"My, you're quite a strapping young man."

"Well thank you my dear, now to see about this corset lace." I gave the strings a good tug, getting a wail of pain from James.

"That's it; you're going to kill me!"

"I doubt you could be killed by a corset alone."

"Agh, what is this pressure on my chest, it feels horrid!"

"That would be your breasts being put in place, there now, almost got it." Freya pinned his, or my, hands in place on the fitting rod while he remained bent over while I tightened the corset a far as it could go. Finally, I tied up the strings and told James to stand up straight.

"Oh, I feel light-headed."

"Then this one's too small; you have to be able to wear it without feeling light-headed in the first two minutes." He swore, James could hear Maria's demon snickering in the confines of her shadow.

"Oh well, onto the next size!"

* * *

"How much longer must I endure this hell?" James groaned in both pain and sheer boredom. So far, they did corset fitting, clothes shopping, stopped to help finish Freya's work to deliver another child of magic (Who James noted the couple should name the child Peter) took a break for ice cream, and Maria's blasted demon ended up tying his leash to the opening of a gentlemen's club for laughs. He couldn't count how many times he got pinched in the-well let's just say he made a lot of men at that club really hit the high notes. Luckily for me, grandmother erased those men's memories so they wouldn't come looking for me.

"Oh, look at you, you're filthy! You can't kick a man in the groin without being pushed to the ground, now you got my favorite skirt all covered in dirt."

"Excuse me, but this isn't exactly fun for me! Can we please call it a day, I've learned my lesson!"

"Well, what do you think grandmother? Has he truly reformed?"

"Well, wouldn't go all the way to reformed, but I think he really wants to go home."

"Finally, now get me out of this accursed body!"

"Ah ah! We said we'd take you home, we didn't say you were going back in your body."

"But you have to return me to my body sometime."

"We will, just not at this very moment." Freya opened a portal back to the ship, which was now docked in the port at skull rock. The new crew and Mr. Smee were all asleep, so James was at a loss of what exactly Freya and Maria had in mind for their last punishment.

"Let's get you cleaned up; you're practically leaving a trail of dirt on the floor."

"But how am I supposed to-" James put two and two together. "Oh no, no no! I can't do, I can't take a bath in this body, not while seeing and touching-"

"You're not going to see a thing; we're going to blindfold you. You're just going to feel extremely uncomfortable…" Freya led him by the leash and threw him into the springs fully clothed. One by one, Freya took off the dress and scrubbed the dirt off and put it back on James, who was whining about the cold. Freya then told him to remove his blindfold, only to have him see a bunch of flames come at him. He screamed like, well a girl, only to realize the flames didn't even put a scratch on him.

"Are we done yet?" James asked hopefully, completely beat.

"Yes, we're done for now."

"For now!?"

"Mm hmm, you see, I was going to give you a month's worth of punishments, but I decided a week's worth would be just as good."

"A WEEK!?"

"Don't worry, it's not all going to be from the comfort of my body," Maria said, putting a finger to his forehead again, switching them back. Maria removed the collar and cuffs in one swift motion, while James kept inspecting himself to check if everything was accounted for

"Yeah, we're gonna make it a whole lot worse for you in the days to come, till we are 100% satisfied; he he he." Freya smirked evilly at James, who was now completely frightened.

* * *

James slept comfortably in his new quarters, glad that today's events were finally over. He hoped he'd never have to look at another corset for as long as he lived, those things were torture devices. He shifted to his right side to see Maria sleeping peacefully latched onto his arm.

What on earth was she doing here!? The thunder from outside clapped and he got his answer; Maria stirred in her sleep, making a frown when she heard the storm from outside. 'So the little kitty's afraid of storms so she came here seeking comfort?'

"Don't even think about it." James froze to hear Freya who was standing at the foot of the bed. He could tell she was talking to her through his mind, so he played along.

"What are you doing here?"

"To give you a final warning: I don't want to see Maria suffer as she is worrying about that you might do something like this again. She loves you, she wants you to be happy, not here trying to pillage and plunder to find happiness in materials that will rust and fade with time."

"But that's my life!"

"This isn't _living_, this is just obtaining things in the hopes that they will bring you happiness with their presence around you, there's a difference. She's giving you the opportunity to be happy James, please don't choose treasure over her, because then you'd be choosing a very empty existence that you will deeply regret in the future."

She wasn't kidding around this time; she sounded serious. James actually thought about which he would prefer- a life with Maria, or a life as a pirate. Couldn't he have both? No, he saw the life his parents been through when he was small. It would never work in the end. Then again, he could be a pirate _then_ settle down- no; she would get lonely and go off to find someone else. One thing was for sure, James didn't want to give up being a pirate so quickly.

"I choose, to be a pirate over a boring life of settling down, and live the thrills of sailing the seven seas and plundering every port in the-" he stopped mid-thought. Something was happening to him; all memories of Maria, the ball, Freya, they were all disappearing from his mind. "Wait, stop; what are you…" Freya purged the memories and locked them away in Gertrude's husband's ring, only then would he see the memories again the next time he placed it on his finger, which was so very rare for him to do, and by that it would be too late.

Freya then turned to Maria, who woke up from the little noise James made earlier. She held her breath and turned invisible.

"I know we got off on the wrong foot, but maybe in the future, we can be together. We can stay at my apartment and become professors at an upscale academy; we'll be happy." She turned to the now unconscious captain sleeping by her side. "I-I love you James." and with that, Maria racked up the courage to lean in towards his face and gave him her very first kiss, taking his first as well unknowingly.

Freya couldn't take it anymore, and the same time as Maria kissed James, she purged all of Maria's memories and locked them away to the deepest trenches of the girl's mind, her magic to.

"You're right, Mary. Maybe one day, you two _will_ be happy together. Freya lifted Maria off the covers and brought her back to London, taking the last evidence of memories with her.

* * *

"Smee! Brimstones and gore man; what on earth am I doing here?" James woke up to the most splitting headache he ever had, almost liked some cut out a piece of his brain and left the wound open to fester.

"Sorry captain, you must've fell asleep on your side again, it makes your head spin in place."

"I don't care how I got the stupid headache; just get me a fresh pot of tea on the double!" James looked in the mirror; he looked terrible- bags under his eyes, big bushy eyebrows, and his facial hair had grown in making a mustache and a five-o-clock shadow; god, how he wished to be in the prime of his youth before he came to this blasted island. Yet somehow, for some reason, he felt as if he were forgetting something important, and that made him feel very sad and lonely for a very odd reason. Like he _missed_ something.

"Captain, the crew's found mermaid lagoon, they say there's mermaids there with tails instead of feet." James shook away the feeling and left to find some treasure; it was the only reason he ever came to this accursed island in the first place.

Meanwhile, back in London town; Mary woke up to a most unpleasant headache and seeing white sheets around her.

"Are you alright, Miss? That was quite a fall you had at the Academy's faculty ball. Your _mother_ said you nearly split your head in two." A concerned nurse said to her. Mary saw her mother sitting in a daze; she must've been there all night watching her. She looked in the mirror on the wall to her left. Her wavy brown hair grew chesnut with age and straight to where it seemed unlikely it was ever curly and unruly. she had also grown a few inches, to a dainty five foot three, and grew more slender being on her feet all day as a literature professor at Eton University.

"Mary, my love, is your head felling any better?" George, her fiancé asked worriedly.

"I'm fine darling, just a little shaken." _His voice, it sounds so familiar, like a shroud of soft velvet, yet lined with rough sandpaper_. Mary couldn't shake the feeling like something was off, like she was supposed to be somewhere else.

"Mary, are you alright?"

"Yes, just thinking of what to name our children, if we had a girl."

"Really, what would you name her?" George asked, intrigued.

"Wendy, Wendy Moira Angela Darling." Her mother turned to her happily, although it looked sort of feigned. Mary looked down to get up out of the bed when she noticed something so curious, she would be deemed crazy for suggesting. Her mother's shadow, it was gone.

* * *

**AND I am officially done with this story; but oh no, not for good. I'm intending on making a sequel to this** **story. How you say? Well you're just going to have to keep your eye out for my next story to find out: Finding Happiness-Returning Memories. Thank you all for your lovely reviews! Mwah! **


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